To the casual observer, the renovation project developed in 2004 to elevate Erie Golf Club to a new place in the sun could go down in Erie history as a tremendous boondoggle.  

The Raptor does not look at it that way.  Based on the numbers, the City Fathers borrowed about $2,000,000.00 and hired an architect (Richard Mandel), a construction company (Frontier) and and irrigation company (Sarver) to make Erie great.

The plan was to use the available land, which included an area that was formerly used as a waste dump to create a true golfing experience.  

During the renovation the following changes occurred:

New tees were constructed on the 1st and 18th holes.

A new green was constructed on the 1st hole.

Totally new holes were built which became the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 10th and 11th holes.

Revamped hybrid holes were built on what are now the 5th, 6th, and 14th holes.

A irrigation system was installed throughout the facility

A cart path system was installed throughout the golf course.

The clubhouse was totally renovated and was turned into a sparkling multi use building.

The play yardage was increased from about 5,600 to 6,400 yards.with par increasing from 69 to 72.

The Raptor made a decision to play the Erie Golf Club and was generally pleased except for the following issues:

An especially troubling incident occurred on about 6/10/06 when the greens were not cut even though it was a busy Saturday with perfect weather conditions. The spin that came out of this matter demonstrated the inability of the individuals to understand what golf is about.

It seems that a directive had come about that instructed the Erie Greens Keeper, Bob to cut greens every other day to cut costs.  This was extremely stupid and The Raptor expressed his displeasure to many individuals associated with government.

Another issue that cheesed me off had to do with the tee box on the par 3 - 8th hole.  Early in the season, the tee was loaded with sand and seesd and was a mess for the rest of the year.

The new tees built on some of the holes failed to mature during the year and were alway spongy and lacking grass.  Plus, the staff never cleansed them so there was always broken tees laying about.

The new 3rd hole was "not good"  it had no bail out and the green was right in the firing zone for the 5th tee.  It should be noted that The Raptor played 30 to 40 rounds there in 2006 and I probably lost a golf ball in the first 5 holes about 50% of the time.

The 1st and 10th greens were awful and a clowns mouth should have been incorporated into the design.

The staff never was able to mark the course and therefore the EDGA never rated the course. In addition, the score card, designed by a dolt had severely challenged handicap values and distances.

The hybrid 6th hole was stated at 384 yards on the card and it seemed to play every bit of 420 uphill yards.  the tee box was awful.

The previously mentioned 10th green was under water for the whole season and was awful.

The hybrid 14th hole which was a 500 yard par 5 on the card played like an uphill 575 yard hole and was in terrible shape all year.  The landing area for the tee ball was a swampy high rough, hilly wasteland which sucked.

The staff did the best they could but, because the individuals who worked there were non-golfers, attention to detail was poor.

The gas carts were a wreck.

The practice putting green was awful.

Other than that short list, the course was great.  I just decided not to go back there, even if the managed to fix the place up.